October 1, 2009

October 1, 2009

If you should ever find yourself scoring an independent film and need a love song or two, look no further than Camera Obscura’s latest, My Maudlin Career. Maybe it’s the slight Scottish tinge to lead singer Tracyanne Campbell’s vocals, but her voice is crazy appealing and the way she sings about relationships and all that jazz is endearing, perhaps overly so, as indie films often are. I feel like all the songs on the new record should accompany a black and white photo album or some shit. But in a good way. If you dig Belle & Sebastian and/or Jenny Lewis, check it.

October 9, 2008

October 8, 2008

It’s been over a week since the show, but I still felt I needed to write about Ratatat live. Let me say this: Ratatat is one of my favorite acts around right now and their shows are a total blast. Evan Mast’s beats just bang that much harder and Mike Stroud’s guitar sounds ultra bionic in concert. Their show last Saturday at Terminal 5 was no different, but man was it crowded. Props to the guys for killing a huge show but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy previous shows at Webster Hall and Music Hall of Williamsburg a tad bit more due to the smaller setting.

Dudes are definitely getting national press and I’m seeing a bunch of previews and features in various tour markets so it seems like Ratatat are steadily growing from a NYC band to one with a broad following. The growth in popularity is likely due in large part to their well-rounded new record, silencing critics who claimed a lot of their material sounded familiar.

Check out this sweet video of “Seventeen Years,” the encore from last weekend’s show. Makes me wish we were closer to the stage.